"Campfire Tales" (1991) is no where near being a great horror flick: the acting is- for the most part- not the best and one can clearly see right off the bat that it is a low budget picture. And yet, the movie manages to somehow be entertaining. The movie centers around three teenagers who are camping out in the woods when town drunk Ralph (Gunnar Hansen who manages to play the role of storyteller pretty good) tells them four tales: one about a murderer with a hook for a hand, one that is an obvious tribute to "Reefer Madness" (with a more graphic image, mind you), another about Satan Claus (my personal favorite of the bunch), and one about a marooned pirate who learns the price of treachery. Even with the shoe string budget, the film crew manages to do a decent production job with each individual story in the areas of tone, lighting, bizarre music, and (again, considering that this is a low budget movie) very well done makeup. I'll admit, I'm a sucker when it comes to anthologies (especially now that nobody seems to make them anymore) but if you're like me and you like to see the filmmakers put some effort into their work (especially if they're working on a low budget) then check out "Campfire Tales". PS: Not to be confused with the 1997 version. Also, this movie is available on you tube but just to give fair warning, you will have to put up with a software water mark on the screen. However, with the movie's charm, you might not notice it after a while.
